Cape Town - Last year was a bumper year for Airports Company South Africa’s Cape Town International Airport, which had a significant increase in passenger movement.
Overall passenger numbers grew by 3.5 percent, from 8.3 million in 2013 to more than 8.6 million, the airport said. Regional arrival numbers grew by 6.7 percent and international by 6.2 percent.The airport first reached the 8 million mark in 2007, but this declined to 7.7 million in 2008, mainly because of the world economic crisis.
Deidré Davids, communications manager of Cape Town International Airport, said last year’s passenger mark of 8.6 million was the highest number of passengers the airport has processed since it first reached the 8 million mark in 2007. “To a region such as Cape Town, which is heavily reliant on tourism, this is something to be celebrated.”
In 2010, passenger numbers were about 8.1 million. Passenger numbers climbed more steadily in 2011, when the airport facilitated 8.4 million passengers, while in 2012 the airport began to climb past the 8.5 million mark, but dropped to 8.3 million in 2013, making last year’s statistics the more notable, said Davids.
“The record total passenger movement of more than 8.6 million for the 2014 calendar year can be attributed to various factors. On the domestic front, new airlines and airline routes were introduced when FlySafair began operating in October and SA Airlink introduced a route to Skukuza, Mpumalanga. Comair started its Cape Town/Plettenberg route early in the year.”On the international front, KLM operated an extra flight during winter and BA International began operating additional flights from May.
Davids said the last quarter saw the return of Condor, Edelweiss, Air France, Virgin Atlantic and Lufthansa which commenced with their Cape Town route.
In December the airport processed more than 437 000 arriving passengers, marking a 5.96 percent increase, compared with the same period in 2013. Domestic arrivals increased by 6.5 percent and international arrivals by 3.2 percent in December.
Cape Times